Something smells in Saratoga County: Marijuana in Moreau

MOREAU, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Tensions are high around a stench coming from a property in Saratoga County and it has residents in a small town upset. Residents said they have growing concerns around marijuana in Moreau.

A cultivation farm that's been harvesting the crop in recent weeks has some neighbors complaining about the strong odor.

Officials in the Town of Moreau said they have been trying to navigate the nuances of legalized cannabis after complaints from residents, who said they’ve been getting whiffs of marijuana and it's overwhelming them. Jamie Wallace is just one of those residents.

“We didn’t get any warning about it. We didn’t know what it was at first until we did some digging ourselves and walked and saw this new commercial operation right down the road,” said Wallace. “I guess I just want some transparency. Why wasn’t anybody alerted of this? Why didn’t we get some notice?”

Town officials sent similar complaints to the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), on September 26. They said they want to be notified when there are plans to grow acres of cannabis. Wallace said the smell is impacting his family’s quality of life.

“We’re in New York, we get four nice months a year. I got to stay with this for two months out of the four months. I don’t like it,” said Wallace.

Property owner Orson Klender did not want to talk on camera but told me they are aware of the concerns and are actively working to address the problem. He said they are working on plans with an engineer to build greenhouses, however it does not have the stamp of approval from the planning board yet. Wallace said he still has concerns.

“It’s all gonna be in greenhouses with carbon filtration, but then they have a drying barn, it’s not gonna stink when they go in the drying barn and dry for how long? I don’t know how they’re gonna control the odor,” said Wallace.

Klender said in addition to the greenhouses they are working on planting flowers and lavender to help mitigate the smell, adding they live in the community and they want to be good neighbors. 

We talked to a property owner adjacent to the cultivation farm who said he does not have an issue with the business operating next door, however he also wants the farm to mitigate the smell.

Klender said they plan on being at the next planning board meeting to discuss the greenhouse plans.